Page 4 - Rotary 3201 - GML November 2021

Trustee

Message

hen people First, it truly is our Foundation. The Rotary Foundation doesn’t belong to
ask me what me or the other 14 trustees, nor to the RI Board of Directors, nor to the RI
WThe Rotary president. It belongs to each Rotarian around the world.
Foundation is, I tell them
it’s the heart of Rotary. And it’s there for all of us to change the world. We save mothers and
You may have heard children because we have compassion, and we know how to plan. We
before that Rotary has provide clean water and sanitation where they’re needed to those who
an intelligent heart. The need them, because we build strategies based on a community’s needs. We
Foundation combines combine support for peace, education, and economic stability for at-risk
our emotional response communities with an ability to manage big projects.
of compassion with Giving to the Foundation is smart, too, because in doing so, you multiply
pragmatic action. With the value of that gift. How many other foundations can you think of that
both heart and brains, identify the projects, fund them, and run them on the ground themselves?
you can change the Ours is the only one I know. And we get it all done at such a relatively low
world. administrative cost. This is one reason Charity Navigator consistently gives
So, what does the the Foundation a four-star rating.
Foundation mean to I sometimes get asked a question: How much should I be giving to the
you? November is Rotary Foundation? Each year, make a gift of what you can afford to give. For
Foundation Month, but some, that is $100, and for others, more. What’s most important is that you
do you really know our give something, because each generous gift helps us meet the increased
Foundation? demand we’re seeing from members for global grants and our other
programs.
This year, we want to raise $50 million for PolioPlus, which will be matched
2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for a total of $150 million. If
every Rotary club contributed just $1,500, we would surpass this goal. We
have other goals as well — for the Annual Fund, the Endowment Fund, and
outright gifts — adding up to a grand total of $410 million.

We will get there if we set our hearts — and minds — to it. But remember,
it’s not about the money; it’s what the money can do.

There’s a saying that goes, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast
a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

The Foundation is that stone, so let us turn ripples into great waves with it,
using our hearts and our minds.

Rtn. John F. Germ

Trustee Chair 2021-22
Rotary International

4 OUR LOVELY PLANET NOVEMBER 2021